The best fender knot

[TernVI]

It's an 'RYA instructors' fact' that clove hitches are unreliable.
I've watched RYA instructors undo clove hitches and let the fender fall to 'prove' this 'fact'.

Which knots work reliably depnds on the rope.
If you've got old stiff rope or certain types of braid or whatever, the knot won't self-tighten as it should and will be less reliable.
If the rope is too small, it's easier to pull the knot so tight you can't undo it, if it's too big it won't tighten around the thing guardwire.

If clove hitches don't work for you, maybe consider changing to more co-operative rope?
I find a fairly soft 3 strand of about 10mm works for me, I got loads of it from the oddments bin at Porto Solento.

I use a clove hitch, everyone knows what it is.
If I'm leaving the boat or it's going to blow, I add a half hitch or two to 'make sure'.

 

[davidpbo]

I am interested as to how they would know that since surely to have come adrift the knot must have come on done.

 

[PilotWolf]

If instructors are undo the knot it’s not actually failing??

PW

 

[michael_w]

Please keep tying your fenders on with clove hitches. I can't be the only boat that could do with a few new ones

 

[penberth3]

I think sea-fever is suggesting running a loop under the "cross run" rather than simply threading the bight under the cross run on a standard clove hitch.

Your bight goes over the "cross run". Is that still a clove hitch or does it have another name?

Richard

That's what I was trying to say about making it a quick release.

It definitely isn't a clove hitch. And it isn't a "constrictor knot" - it doesn't have enough crossings, but it does work as a slightly less secure constrictor.

 

[penberth3]

I am interested as to how they would know that since surely to have come adrift the knot must have come on done.

Came undone because it's a clove hitch, QED. Don't argue with the instructor.

 

[dunedin]

The preferred knot depends on whether you are the one paying for the replacement fenders or not - owners tend to use the more secure knots (eg round turn and two half hitches).

 

[Refueler]

The preferred knot depends on whether you are the one paying for the replacement fenders or not - owners tend to use the more secure knots (eg round turn and two half hitches).

Yes ?? So I'm not owner of my boat then ? Many I know use same as me ... clove hitch with a quick release locking hitch to finish off.

I'm CA HLR for West Coast Latvia ... many boats I visit also use the Clove Hitch and extra hitch .... are they not owners ?

Bit of a sweeping statement I think "dunedin" .....

 

[LadyInBed]

I'm far too tight to use them. I use these, at £2.50 a pop, though I doubt I paid that much 15 years ago when I got them.

I think that's not a bad idea, I will give it some thought.
A stopper knot or backsplice in the bitter end of the fender rope and use an overhand knot on a bight to set the length could work ?

 

[Buck Turgidson]

The last time anyone looked my fenders were still attached. 12 months including winter storms with nothing but clove hitches. Guess I must just be lucky.

 

[Sea-Fever]

Round turn and two HH.
And not around the lifelines, please (i.e. not what it looks like on TT's avatar ;-))

Er....where then?

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

'On my dazed kipper course I used a clove hitch and was told that most of the fenders found floating were tied on with clove hitches, so I should use a RT&2HH '

I've had odd fender try the escape route ... when just a Clove Hitch, gives good practice of MOB !! But its been extremely rare in all the 55 odd years of boating. The usual culprit is the COW hitch mistakenly made instead of Clove Hitch ... Cow Hitch has only one use in life ... as a chain stopper on wire ... and then its backed up by winding the chain 3 .. 4x round the wire.

I use a slipped cow hitch (normally with the stanchion top between the two loops) and never lost a fender.

 

[Refueler]

I use a slipped cow hitch (normally with the stanchion top between the two loops) and never lost a fender.

May I suggest you are very lucky ... as the Cow Hitch is never designed to be a holding hitch on its own. Its for a non locking hitch where ease of release is needed such as a chain stopper on wire hawsers .....

I'm just passing through my minds eye someone actually tieing a Cow Hitch on a stanchion as you suggest ... mmmmm takes all sorts I suppose ...

 

[RupertW]

Things like fender hooks may seem a good idea. But when one is going into a berth where one has no idea if one is going to get a boat against the side, or a pontoon & what way round that will be; then it is not much use. If rafting the fender has to be higher. If a pontoon then lower. If in an unknown lock it could be anywhere.
I know from experience that going into Cherbourg, Ostend, Ramsgate, Boulogne for example it is a lottery knowing what side of the boat the pontoon (if any) will be.
Last minute fender shuffling is par for the course & fun when single handed.

That’s why I have the system described above - a 2 second hook or unhook on the rope each side of the cockpit moves all 5 fenders on that side from pontoon height up to boat height or vice versa. Can be done as you turn into a berth and see which way round things are.

 

[TiggerToo]

Er....where then?

base of the stanchions, through fairleads, through the slots in the toe rail.

(NB: these are simply my preferences)

 

[LadyInBed]

My stanchions aren't where I want my fenders to be.

 

[Stemar]

Things like fender hooks may seem a good idea. But when one is going into a berth where one has no idea if one is going to get a boat against the side, or a pontoon & what way round that will be; then it is not much use. If rafting the fender has to be higher. If a pontoon then lower. If in an unknown lock it could be anywhere.
I know from experience that going into Cherbourg, Ostend, Ramsgate, Boulogne for example it is a lottery knowing what side of the boat the pontoon (if any) will be.
Last minute fender shuffling is par for the course & fun when single handed.

True, but it works for me as I have a small boat and my fenders cover most of the topsides. Not Ideal alongside another boat, but OK to arrive and sort at leisure. If I do need to change sides, it's quicker to unhook a fender from one side and hook it on the other. Ropes and knots can be surprisingly uncooperative when you're in a hurry!

 

[LadyInBed]

I know from experience that going into Cherbourg, Ostend, Ramsgate, Boulogne for example it is a lottery knowing what side of the boat the pontoon (if any) will be.
Last minute fender shuffling is par for the course & fun when single handed

I am normally solo. I can't be faffing around moving fenders when looking for a pontoon space, I always fender and put docking lines out both sides.

 

[Sea-Fever]

My stanchions aren't where I want my fenders to be.

....And my toe rail doesn't have holes in it.

 

[john_morris_uk]

My stanchions aren't where I want my fenders to be.

Ditto. And my toe rail doesn't have holes in it either!